Han official!

Chapter 1: Moving to Maoling
In January of the first year of Emperor Wu's Jianyuan reign (140 BC), a heavy snow fell on Gao Street in Chang'an, Jingzhao Yin. The snow fell on the black tile eaves of the Feichang House, and the courtyard was covered with white snow.

Feichangwu was the residence of the postmen guarding the duting. There were a large number of post booths in the Han Dynasty. The villages were called tings and the city walls were called duting. Most of them were used as residences for officials to rest and provide meals and horse feed.

At the door of the extraordinary house in the Gaojie Duting, the cook walked into the house holding a pottery pot, and a man came from the south side of the east gate.

The cook put down the pottery jar, stared at the man warily, and reached for the dagger at his waist with one hand, ready to draw it and stab at any time.

"Officials, can you please report the grain purchase?"

It was the coldest time of the year, and the man was wearing only a yellowed linen jacket, hakama and socks, and a white gauze headband. He was seven feet tall, had no beard, and was quite strong.

Guo Jie stood under the eaves, shook the snow off his linen jacket, and bowed politely, saying, "The roads are slippery in the snow. Could you please provide me with some beans and wheat so I can have some soup before continuing on my journey?"

To buy rice means to buy rice.

The purpose of buying rice is to buy rice.

"Is there a talisman?"

The visitor wanted to stop for a rest and have a meal at the Duting. The cook had changed from an assistant clerk at the pavilion to a wealthy businessman. The hand that was reaching for the dagger relaxed a little, but was still full of vigilance.

The man with a tough appearance did not look like an official with a talisman, but more like a knight who was good at fighting and wielding a sword.

The courier was proof of identity for officials traveling back and forth. According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, officials could use the courier to request meals from post stations.

If there is no talisman, merchants traveling back and forth would need to pay half a tael of money to buy food at the pavilion.

It is also one of the few extra incomes for assistant clerks at the post station.

Guo Jie took out a string of coins from his bag and handed them over. These were not the privately minted elm pod coins, but the official half-liang coins. He gave a total of ten half-liang coins to the cook who was blocking the door.

"Gentleman, please come in and warm yourself up."

The cook was just a minor official who served food. When he saw the generous guest, he stopped asking about his identity as a knight-errant and immediately became friendly. He loosened his hand that was reaching for the dagger and invited Guo Jie to come in and rest.

Guo Jie secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He finally had a place to rest and didn't have to expose his blood debt.

He used to be the person in charge of economic restructuring in a large enterprise. As a result, he affected the interests of too many people and accidentally fell into the water after a company dinner. When he woke up again, he had returned to the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty.

When he found himself as Guo Jie, a hero of the Western Han Dynasty, he instantly broke out in a cold sweat. He had just been reborn but now fell into a situation where he was doomed to death.

In this world, the words "knight-errant" and "hero" are not good words, and are basically equated with evil forces.

Guo Jie was a leader among the knights-errant. He was responsible for dozens of deaths, minted coins privately, dug up graves, and committed countless crimes that were simply outrageous to both humans and gods.

When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty moved the powerful to live in Maoling, his entire family was killed because of his heinous crimes.

Guo Jie understood his own situation and counted the crimes he had committed. He immediately went to Chang'an to find a way to break the current deadlock.

Buy a title to atone for sins.

In December of the winter of the first year of Emperor Hui of Han (194 BC), a law was enacted to allow people to redeem their sins by buying titles: if a citizen committed a crime, he could buy thirty levels of titles to avoid the death penalty.

The first level title is worth two thousand, and the thirty level title is worth a total of sixty thousand.

Considering the numerous blood debts committed by Guo Jie, where a life cost 60,000 coins, there was still a glimmer of hope.

However, the price of buying a title to atone for sins skyrocketed with the ascension of a new king.

During the reign of Emperor Wen, the price of a title was slightly higher, with the first level of title costing 20,000 coins.

During the reign of Emperor Wu, the price of the 30th rank of nobility was 500,000 coins. If Guo Jie wanted to redeem all his capital crimes, he would need at least 10,000 gold coins, enough to create a pure gold Guo Jie.

When Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty was building the terrace, he once said that one hundred gold coins could equal the income of ten families.

The average family property in the Western Han Dynasty was about ten gold coins.

The money Guo Jie used to atone for his sins and buy a title was equivalent to the total wealth of a thousand middle-class households in the Han Dynasty. He even wanted to die.

Plan for today.

Guo Jie had only one thing on his mind.

Raise millions of gold to atone for sins.

The difficulty is no less than that of becoming a marquis from the Lost Marquisate.

But he had no way out.

Guo Jie walked into the extraordinary house on the south side of the east gate of Duting, and felt a warm feeling. There were two horseshoe-shaped stoves in the house, which were very different from the rectangular stoves in Guandong.

Next to the horseshoe-shaped stove in Guanzhong, two groups of people were sitting around. One group was the postmen from the Gaojie Duting, and the other group was guests wearing linen robes. They were all dressed like knights with black hats and swords.

There was only one person who was dressed in a Liu's crown, gorgeous clothes, and a pair of leather shoes. He was dressed in a wealthy and noble manner, which made him look very different from the people around him.

"Gentleman, please rest a moment. I will prepare some food and hot soup."

The chef, having received a bribe of ten and a half ounces of silver, treated Guo Jie much more warmly. He sullenly kicked a customer to make room for him, then turned around and smiled again: "The pavilion still has rice, cakes, and bait. What kind of food do you like?"

Rice is made by removing the bran from corn, wheat grains, and rice and boiling them in water.

The cake is made by kneading and steaming wheat flour with the bran removed and water added.

The bait is made by kneading rice flour and water and steaming it.

Except for the young man in fancy clothes, the others around him couldn't help swallowing their saliva when they heard about rice, cakes and bait. They were hungry and their pockets were empty. They hadn't eaten for almost a day.

Guo Jie was moved and wanted to inquire about the situation of the officials and powerful people in Chang'an. He pointed to the pottery and said, "One pot of rice and another pot of hot soup."

A clay pot with a rounded lip was placed on the horseshoe-shaped stove, emitting bubbling steam. The cook took out a piece of vinegar cloth, marinated it with ramie cloth and vinegar, and cut off a piece to put in the pot when cooking.

There was just a hint of vinegar. The people around stared at the vinegar water in the pottery pot, their Adam's apples rolling.

Guo Jie took the rice, scooped out some vinegar water and poured it into the rice, then soaked the rice in the water and ate it. This is a common way of eating among the Han people, called sun.

"Gentleman."

A guest in a plain hat was extremely hungry. He bowed and said, "Can you lend me a meal? I will repay you tenfold in the future."

A meal of grace?
Guo Jie thought to himself, "It all depends on whether you have the ability to eat." He pretended to be thoughtful and said, "I came to Chang'an this time to make a living. I would like to ask you to tell me some interesting stories about the nobles in Chang'an."

The guest in the flat hat suddenly realized that this man was dressed like a knight-errant and probably wanted to become a guest of some nobleman, so he stopped being polite and started eating the food in the jar.

It wasn't a waste of food, as they talked about recent anecdotes in Chang'an and the habits of some nobles. It was unknown whether they were true or not, as most of them were rumors in the neighborhood.

"Have you ever heard of it?"

The begging knight named Zhang was actually a low-ranking official, well-informed. He spoke mysteriously, "The Emperor has just established Maoling Town and is planning to move officials and wealthy people there."

(End of this chapter)